Ritt grew tired of Brick Bradford in the mid-1940s, and by 1948 he had turned over first the daily and then the Sunday to Gray, who did the strip by himself until his health problems increased. In 1952, Paul Norris (who had been working on King's Jungle Jim) took over the daily. When Gray died in 1956, Norris took over the Sunday strip. Norris retired in 1987, and the strip was retired as well with the daily ending April 25, 1987 and the Sundays two weeks later.

Brick Bradford was a space opera/adventure story, resembling such comics as Skyroads, Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon with its tales of dinosaurs, intergalactic villains, robots and subatomic worlds. By 1935, Brick Bradford's popularity had greatly increased, and it arrived in the Sunday comics sections of major newspapers in 1933, followed by a weekend edition that began November 24, 1934. In France, he was known as "Luc Bradefer" (Luke Ironarm), and was published in many newspapers.

On April 20, 1935, the strip added a time machine, the Time Top, that traveled to both past and future, presaging Doc Wonmug's device in Alley Oop four years later.

Brick Bradford was referenced in The Dick Van Dyke Show episode Uhny Uftz when Rob believe he has seen a flying saucer with the "Brick Bradford insignia" on it, which he describes as being like a lightning bolt.

Before his death from cancer, Canadian artist Jerry Pethick (1935 – 2003) conceived a large bronze sculpture in the shape of the Time Top as depicted in later installments of Brick Bradford. In 2004, his widow, Margaret Pethick, took over the project. It was submerged in sea water for two years while connected to an electrical source to accelerate barnacle and mineral accretion on its surface for an aged look. In August 2006, the sculpture was installed on its permanent site at False Creek, Vancouver, British Columbia.[1][2]